It's going to be hot
The participants of our semifinal series moved from cold Moscow to much more spring-like Kazan. The beginning of the new week will be marked by the continuation of the battles between CSKA and UNICS...
Will everything be different again?
The team from Tatarstan had to return home at the most inconvenient moment, when the Moscow airports were closed. Traveling by bus is not the easiest thing.
The two Moscow games of the series have practically nothing in common. In the first, the teams stifled each other with defensive efforts and practically did not single out heroes. For the winners, we can only single out Tonye Jekiri (15 points, 6 rebounds, 5 of 7 from the field). But in the second, there were a huge number of spectacular moments and excellent individual performances. Jalen Reynolds (20 points), who was in the starting lineup for only the second time this season, and rookie Marcus Keene (23 points, 5 of 7 three-pointers), who finished the first game with zero points, shined for UNICS. But CSKA's Aleksa Avramovic (32 points, 5 assists) and Casper Ware (26 points) prevailed.
Building on success
The holiday of May 9 was a day off for the red-blues, as it was for the whole country. The team returned to work on Friday and before leaving for Kazan, they held two practice sessions at the main arena in Krylatskoye in full force.
"We are moving to the opponent's court, having completed the task of defending the home court at the start of the series," said CSKA head coach Andreas Pistiolis. "At the same time, 2-0 does not mean much when you need four wins. We need to build on what we did well in previous games and expect a tough fight."
Past matchups
Wins-losses: 94-28
CSKA biggest margin of victory: 102-54 (+48) (1997-98 Russian Championship. Quarterfinal)
UNICS biggest margin of victory: 113-77 (-36) (2000-01 Russian Superleague. Regular season. 2nd stage)
Games of 2024-25 VTB League Season:
Regular season
21-Oct-2024. CSKA – UNICS: 71-55 (+16)
09-Nov-2024. UNICS – CSKA: 73-80 (+7)
01-Mar-2025. CSKA – UNICS: 97-86 (+11)
13-Apr-2025. UNICS – CSKA: 86-78 (-8)
Semifinals
06-May-2025. CSKA – UNICS: 67-56 (+11)
08-May-2025. CSKA – UNICS: 95-87 (+8)
Brief dossier
UNICS Kazan
Founded: 1991
Color: green, black, white
Home court: Basket Hall (7,500)
President: Evgeny Bogachev
Head coach: Velimir Perasovic
Website: www.unics.ru
Trophy case:
- EuroCup winner (2011);
- FIBA Europe League winner (2004);
- VTB League and Russian champion (2023);
- 9-time Russian League runner-up (2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2021, 2024),
- 7-time Russian League bronze winner (2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2022),
- NEBL champion (2003),
- 3-time Russian Cup winner (2003, 2009, 2014),
- 3-Russian Cup runner-up (2005, 2007, 2010),
- 5-time VTB United League runner-up (2010, 2012, 2016, 2021, 2024)
